The institutional context as a source of heterogeneity in family firm internationalization strategies: A comparison between U.S. and emerging market family firms

Existing research has underexplored the role of context as a source of heterogeneity in family firms’ (FFs) internationalization strategies. Drawing upon institutional theory, we develop and test a mid-range theory positing that differences in the quality of the institutional context can moderate the strength of the relationship between individual- and board-level attributes and FF internationalization. Our comparison of U.S. FFs with FFs from Brazil and Mexico reveals that in emerging market FFs, individual-level attributes such as CEO international experience, CEO educational attainment, and CEO international education exhibit a stronger relationship with internationalization. Similarly, we find that board-level attributes such as board size and board independence are also more strongly related to internationalization in emerging market contexts. We contribute to the literature by identifying a source of variation in FF internationalization strategies based on context and by examining the relationship between a wide range of FF attributes and internationalization. •We explore the relationship between context and FF internationalization strategies.•How FF attributes relate to internationalization can vary according to context.•We focus on individual-level CEO traits such as international experience.•We also focus on board-level traits such as board size and independence.•Certain attributes relate more strongly to internationalization in emerging markets.